#cahow

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Bermuda Petrel

Photo: Miguel A Mejias, PhD.

"Endangered Atlantic Ocean seabird that nests on Bermuda and disperses widely when not breeding. When not nesting, it can only be seen far from land, where it often flies in swooping arcs with little flapping. Locally known as 'Cahow', it very nearly went extinct in the mid-twentieth century, but was returned from the brink largely due to the heroic efforts of local conservationists."

- eBird

[alonglistofbirds]

[748/10,977] Bermuda Petrel - Pterodroma cahow

Also known as: Cahow

Order: Procellariiformes (tubenoses) Family: Procellariidae (petrels, prions and shearwaters) Genus: Pterodroma (gadfly petrels)

Photo credit: Larry Master via Macaulay Library

[bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Bermuda Petrel

^Image credit: Richard Crossley

Bermuda Petrel (Pterodroma cahow)

As of making this post, the Bermuda Petrel is the second rarest seabird on the planet. Also known in Bermuda as the Cahow, it was believed to be extinct for 300 years until eighteen nesting pairs were found in 1951. Female Bermuda Petrels lay only one egg per breeding season, with 40-50% of these eggs failing to hatch.

[joeinct]

Bank Grill, Back of Eddie Cahow's Barber Shop, Chapman, Nebraska, Photo by Wright Morris, 1942-47

[funkbun]

learned about this Bermuda Cahow Cam twt account today and i cannot get over this ball of lint babything...

this beast

[casp1an-sea]

there are a lot of random characters I really latch onto with Star Wars but only three I think have the same or similar level of obsession

Han, he’s a criminal yes. But his morals are decent, he has a heart of gold, he’s a great guy, a hero, a great dad, plus he’s funny, easy going, and friendly.

Tech, yes he’s an agent or cahow but he has a strong set of morals and beliefs. He cares for his brothers a lot, and has a great level of emotional maturity. He’s genuinely so sweet and precious while also being the king of sass. Not to mention how smart he is.

then we have Hux a war criminal who blew up five planets, was on screen for only 12 minutes and 6 seconds, defected from the military because he hated his coworker so much, and genuinely just has terrible morals

[armatofu]

Juan Bermúdez fue un navegante español del siglo XVI nacido en la localidad onubense de Palos de la Frontera Huelva. Su fama se debe principalmente al descubrimiento de las islas Bermudas, que recibieron ese nombre en su honor.​ Se desconoce la fecha de su nacimiento Juan Bermúdez formó parte de la expedición de Cristóbal Colón que partió del puerto de Palos de la Frontera el 3 de agosto de 1492 y que realizó el descubrimiento de América el 12 de octubre del mismo año, viajando a bordo de La Pinta, carabela capitaneada por el navegante y explorador Martín Alonso Pinzón. También formó parte su hermano Diego Bermúdez, a bordo de la nao Santa María, y que contaba con 12 años de edad En uno de sus viajes de vuelta a casa desde el nuevo mundo, Bermúdez capitaneaba a La Garza, embarcación que formaba parte de la flota española, cuando una tempestad le desvió hacia el norte y se encontró con la isla. Sin embargo, los arrecifes que complicaban el acceso, y el sonido de los pájaros anidando en la costa (Pterodroma cahow o Petrel de Bermudas, hoy pájaro nacional de las islas) El año en el que Bermúdez descubrió las islas es sobre 1505 debido a que en la obra del cronista de Indias Pedro Mártir de Anglería llamada Legatio Babylonica, publicada ese año, incluía una isla llamada La Bermuda entre las islas representadas en el océano Atlántico Fuente Instituto Histórico de Marina.

[bermudianabroad]

Latest in Fluff Burd News:

142 breeding pairs of cahows! Whoop whoop!

[birdstudies]

February 4, 2020 - Bermuda Petrel or Cahow (Pterodroma cahow)

Breeding in Bermuda, these petrels spend the rest of their time at sea in parts of the western Atlantic Ocean. Thought to be extinct by 1620, after humans brought hogs, rats, cats, and dogs to their breeding islands and hunted them for food, they were officially rediscovered in 1951. Though little is known about their diet, they may eat squid, small shrimp, and small fish, probably capturing prey at or near the surface of the water like similar species of petrel. They nest colonially in burrows or crevices, where females lay a single egg in a scrape sometimes lined with plant materials. Classified as Endangered by the IUCN, their population is estimated at around 200 adult birds, but due to successful conservation efforts, it is predicted to continue to increase.

[neritic-by-nature]

Cahows! I drew them for my final exhibition piece in my “Transcultural Collaboration” class last semester. 

We all had to pick something important to our culture and make a piece about it. I chose the cahow, since they’re endemic to Bermuda and we thought that we had hunted them to extinction decades ago. There’s currently a big conservation/restoration project to help bring the population back up!

[ainawgsd]

Bermuda Petrel

The Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow) is commonly known in Bermuda as the cahow, a name derived from its eerie cries. This nocturnal ground-nesting seabird is the national bird of Bermuda and can be found on Bermudian money. It is the second rarest seabird on the planet and a symbol of hope for nature conservation. For 300 years, it was thought to be extinct. The dramatic rediscovery in 1951 of eighteen nesting pairs made this a "Lazarus species", that is, a species found to be alive after having been considered extinct. A national program to preserve the bird and restore the species has helped increase its numbers, but scientists are still working to enlarge its nesting habitat on the restored Nonsuch Island.

The cahow is a slow breeder, but excellent flier. It visits land only to nest and spends most its adult life on the open seas ranging from the North Atlantic coastal United States and Canada to waters off western Europe. After 3–4 years at sea, males return to breeding islands to create nests. Females return after 4–6 years at open sea looking for a mate. Cahows mate for life and typically return to the same nest each year. They nest in underground burrows and only the ones that can be in complete darkness are chosen. Females lay one egg per season and 40% to 50% fail to hatch. 

The Spanish sailors of the 1500s used Bermuda and its surrounding islands as a waypoint for their raids against the Incas and other civilizations. At that time, cahows were abundant and formed dense, noisy colonies. These sailors, as Diego Ramirez writes in 1603, would take up to 400 birds a night for food. In addition to eating birds, conquistadors brought hogs to the island to sustain themselves over their voyage. These hogs decimated the ground-nesting cahow, rooting up their burrows, eating eggs, chicks and adults and disrupting their breeding cycle.

Bermuda's colonization by the English introduced species like rats, cats and dogs, and mass killings of the birds for food by these early colonists decimated the numbers of birds. The remaining cahow population also decreased due to widespread burning of vegetation and deforestation by the settlers during the first 20 years of settlement. Despite being protected by one of the world's earliest conservation decrees, the governor's proclamation "against the spoyle and havocke of the Cohowes", the birds were thought to have become extinct by the 1620s.

Cahows typically eat small fish, squid and shrimp-like crustaceans. Special glands in their tube-like nostrils allow them to ingest seawater. These glands filter out the salt and expel it through sneezing.

The Bermuda Petrel's re-population has explicitly increased and is approximated that the population doubles every 22 years, but there are still clear-cut inhibitors on its path to recovery. The Petrel's vulnerability has drastically increased because of substantial damage to its habitats and nesting sites by tropical storms and climate changes.  Its recovery has been hampered by competition from White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) for nest-sites and subadult predation from a single snowy owl (the first ever recorded in Bermuda) on Nonsuch Island, which was eradicated, having eaten 5% of the population. Light pollution from a nearby airport and NASA tracking station adversely affects nocturnal aerial courtship.Another major issue with nests is competition with other birds in the area. To fix this issue, artificial dome nests were created for tropicbirds along areas, not used by the Bermuda Petrel, and by applying wooden baffles over the entrances of petrel burrows. These baffles only allow petrels to enter, keeping the competition of tropicbirds out. 

[virginiagreene]

Cahow cahow! #penandink #cahow #bird #art #illustration #wip (at Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

[happyk44]

Sailors: And the island screamed like a howl of demons! Such horror! No one should dare to tread on that Island of Devils - if they can even make it past the raging waters.

The Bermuda cahow:

[poboh]

Barber Chair, Cahow’s Barber Shop, Chapman, Nebraska, 1940's, Wright Morris (1910 - 1998)

[100gayicons]

Brian Boitano is an Olympic athlete having represented the US at the 1984, 1988 and 1994 Olympic Games in Figure Skating (plus as an alternate in 1980).

At 5’11”, Boitano had an “athletic” style and frequently scored high in the technical requirement. In 1983 he perfected the Triple Axel and in 1987 the Triple Lutz which became is signature jump.

But where he was lacking was in the artistic scores. He and his coach Linda Leaver brought in Sandra Bezic, an outside choreographer. Her efforts emphasized his clean movements but added a sense of style and humor.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Boitano’s main competition was Canada’s Brian Orser. The two had been trading 1st and 2nd place World Championships in the years leading up to the Olympics. In fact the media dubbed their efforts “The Battle of the Brians”.

According to Wikipedia: “Boitano won the (Olympic) Battle in a 5–4 split. With his win, he became the first Olympic champion to land the full complement of six types of triple jumps. Boitano won the gold medal, wearing skates with American flag appliqués that are now part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.”

While growing up, Boitano knew he was gay. He wasn’t ashamed, but it was something he only shared with family and close friends. He didn’t feel the need to make a public statement. In fact, he was cautioned against coming out by his agent who reminded him most skating fans were female.

But in 2013 Boitano was named by President Obama to be part of the US delegation to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Russia and the games in Sochi were criticized because of laws passed against any gay “propaganda” including LGBT activism. Other in the delegation were out athletes Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow.

Boitano realized this was his time and to add his voice against the homophobia in the world. He issued his own press release telling the world he was gay.

Boitano credits journalist and commentator Anderson Cooper for helping him through the transition. (Cooper himself only came out in 2012.)